Means and methods to induce apomixis in plants

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to nucleic acid molecules for use in inducing aponnixis in a plant, transgenic cells, in particular transgenic plant cells, comprising said nucleic acid molecule, transgenic plants, in particular plant seeds, comprising said nucleic acid molecule, methods for inducing apomixis in a plant, methods for the production of apomictic plants and uses thereof.

The present invention relates to nucleic acid molecules for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, transgenic cells, in particular transgenic plant cells, comprising said nucleic acid molecule, transgenic plants, in particular plant seeds, comprising said nucleic acid molecule, methods for inducing apomixis in a plant, methods for the production of apomictic plants and uses thereof.

Naturally occurring vegetative, non-sexual reproduction in plants through seeds, also called apomixis, is a genetically controlled reproductive mechanism of plants primarily found in some polyploid non-cultivated species. Various types of apomixis, inter alia gametophytic and sporophytic, can be distinguished. In sporophytic apomixis also called adventitive embryony, a somatic embryo develops not from the gametophyte but directly from the cells of the nucellus, ovary wall or integuments. Somatic embryos from surrounding cells invade the sexual ovary, one of the somatic embryos out-competes the other somatic embryos and the sexual embryo, and utilizes the produced endosperm.

Gametophytic apomixis is a naturally-occurring type of asexual seed formation whereby progeny, which are clonal to the maternal genotype, are produced from meiotically-unreduced embryo sacs, i.e. the female gametophyte. Most gametophytic apomictic species are found in the Asteraceae, Rosaceae and Poaceae, where they have arisen independently and recurrently. Polyploidy, facultative apomixis (both sexual and apomictic seed production within one individual), and faster development of the apomeiotic ovule relative to the sexual one are traits which are shared among most of these taxa. Apomixis is derived from sex, and three independent developmental steps must be acquired for a sexual plant to produce seeds apomictically: the formation of an unreduced megaspore, that means the formation of an embryo sac having the same ploidy as the somatic cells of the mother plant from a meiotically-unreduced megaspore (diplospory, apomeiosis) or from nucellar cell (apospory), the subsequent development of an embryo from an unreduced egg in the absence of fertilization (parthenogenesis) and fertilization of the binucleate central cell to form a functional endosperm (pseudogamy). The term “apomeiosis” covers both apospory and diplospory. The apomeiotically-derived embryo thus receives its entire genome through the female line. As these components are under separate genetic control, it has been difficult to envision how all three could evolve in unison in a sexual ancestor considering random mutations, since the expression of any single step would decrease the fitness of its sexual carrier. It is widely accepted that apomictic seed development results from deregulation of the sexual development pathway, which would be manifested at multiple loci simultaneously. In wild apomictic taxa, this coordinated deregulation is hypothesized to be influenced by global regulatory changes resulting from hybridization and/or polyploidy (Grossniklaus, 2001, From sexuality to apomixis: Molecular and genetic approaches, In: The flowering of apomixis: From Mechanisms to Genetic Engineering, 168-211).

Recent reports analyse the gene expression of apomeiosis, that means unreduced gamete formation, in microdissected ovules of Boechera, and were able to identify quite a large number of differentially expressed alleles between sexual and apomeiotic ovules in a particular stage of the development, namely the megaspore mother cell (MMC) stage. Further studies focussed on heterochrony of gene expression patterns over a series of developmental stages in sexual and apomeiotic ovules (Sharbel et al., 2009, The Plant Journal, 58, 870-882, Sharbel et al., 2010, The Plant Cell, 22, 655-671). However, although the state of the art expectedly show that apomictic and sexual ovules are characterised by specific molecular signatures, it does not provide any clue on how to induce apomixis in a desired plant in a reliable and foreseeable manner, in particular by means of conventional gene transfer techniques.

In fact, one of the main difficulties in identifying the molecular genetic mechanisms controlling apomixis is that the genomes of virtually all apomicts are both polyploidy and hybrid in nature. Although considerable efforts, including in-depth functional molecular analyses, have been undertaken to analyse the molecular framework underlying apomictic phenomena, so far it still remains a challenge to control separately for the influences of either effect, both of which can have diverse regulatory consequences.

Engineering apomixis to a controllable, more reproducible trait would provide many advantages in plant improvement and cultivar development. Apomixis would provide for true-breeding, seed propagated hybrids. Harnessing apomixis would, thus, greatly facilitate and accelerate the ability of plant breeders to fix and faithfully propagate genetic heterozygosity and associated hybrid vigour in crop plants. Moreover, apomixis could shorten and simplify conventional breeding processes so that selfing and progeny testing to produce or stabilize a desirable gene combination could be eliminated.

The controlled use of apomixis would therefore certainly simplify commercial hybrid seed production. In particular, the need for physical isolation of commercial hybrid production fields would be eliminated, available land could be used to grow hybrid seed instead of dividing space between pollinators and male sterile lines and finally the need to maintain parental line seed stocks would be eliminated.

Apomixis would provide for the use as cultivars of genotypes with unique gene combinations since apomictic genotypes breed true irrespective of heterozygosity. Genes or groups of genes could thus be fixed in super genotypes. Every superior apomictic genotype from a sexual-apomictic cross would have the potential to be a cultivar. Apomixis would therefore allow plant breeders to develop cultivars with specific stable traits for such characters as height, seed and forage quality and maturity.

Thus, the application of apomixis in agriculture is considered an important enabling technology that would greatly facilitate the fixation and faithful propagation of genetic heterozygosity and associated hybrid vigor in crop plants (Spillane, 2004, Nat Biotech 22(6), 687-691).

All these potential benefits which rely on the production of seed via apomixis are presently, however, unrealized, to a large extent because of the problem of engineering apomictic capacity into plants of interest.

US 2002/0069433 A1 discloses methods for increasing the probability of vegetative reproduction of a new plant generation wherein a gene which encodes a protein acting in the signal transduction cascade triggered by the somatic embryogenesis receptor kinase is transgenically expressed. US 2008/0155712 A1 discloses processes for identifying in a plant, in particular maize, sequences responsible for apomictic development, in particular by genome mapping. WO 99/35258 A1 discloses nucleic acid markers for an apospory specific genomic region from the genus Pennisetum. U.S. Pat. No. 7,541,514 B2 discloses methods for producing apomictic plants from sexual plants by selecting, collecting and breeding specific plant lines.

None of said disclosures provide means, in particular particular polynucleotides, which can easily be used in gene transfer methods to obtain in a controllable and inexpensive way apomixis in plants.

The technical problem underlying the present invention is therefore to provide means and methods to overcome the above-identified problems, in particular to provide means and methods to introduce apomixis into a plant for instance by means of recombinant gene technology, in particular by means of recombinant DNA transfer technology, in particular to provide means and methods to induce apomixis in plants, in particular in a controllable, foreseeable, reliable, easy and cost-effective way.

The present invention solves its underlying problem by the provision of the teaching of the independent claims, in particular by the provision of nucleic acid molecules, in particular isolated nucleic acid molecules, useful for inducing apomixis in plants, plant cells and plant parts containing said sequence as well as methods to induce apomixis in plants, methods to produce apomictic plants and uses thereof. In particular, the present invention solves its underlying technical problem by the provision of an isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant comprising a polynucleotide which is selected from the group consisting of a) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 62, or a fully complementary strand thereof, b) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, or a fully complementary strand thereof, and c) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a) or b), or a fully complementary strand thereof, preferably wherein the sequence identity is based on the entire sequence. Preferably, the sequence identity is determined by BLAST analysis, preferably in the NCBI database, in particular by GAP analysis using Gap Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3.

The present invention relates in a particularly preferred embodiment to an isolated nucleic acid molecule which comprises a polynucleotide coding for a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, preferably in a plant ovule, preferably exhibiting an exonuclease activity in a plant ovule, which is selected from the group consisting of a1) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 62, in particular 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 47, 50 or 53, or a fully complementary strand thereof, b1) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, preferably SEQ ID No. 4 to 9, SEQ ID No. 13 to 15 or SEQ ID No. 19 to 21, or a fully complementary strand thereof, and CO a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 30%, 40%, 50% or, preferably 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a1) or b1), or a fully complementary strand thereof, preferably wherein the sequence identity is based on the entire sequence. Preferably, the sequence identity is determined by BLAST analysis, preferably in the NCBI database, in particular by GAP analysis using Gap Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3 or any other suitable analysis.

The nucleic acid molecules of the present invention represent the so-called apollo gene, which means “Apomixis linked locus”, or are essential and specific parts thereof. Said gene, in particular its coding sequence, codes for the apollo protein which upon expression in the plant ovule leads to the production of apomictic seed.

The present invention also relates in a preferred embodiment to the above-identified protein-coding polynucleotide which is in particular characterised by the presence of at least one specific duplicated marker sequence in an exon, namely the fifth exon, of said sequence and which represents a nucleotide stretch duplication. Preferably, said duplicated marker nucleotide sequence is given in SEQ ID No. 64 and its corresponding amino acid sequence in SEQ ID No. 63.

Accordingly, the present invention also relates to an isolated nucleic acid molecule, which comprises a polynucleotide coding for a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, preferably in a plant ovule, preferably exhibiting an exonuclease activity in a plant ovule, wherein the polynucleotide comprises a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of a2) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22, 23, 27, 28, 32 or 33, preferably 23, 28 or 33, or a fully complementary strand thereof, b2) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 4, 5 or 6 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and c2) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 30%, 40%, 50% or, preferably 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a2) or b2), or a fully complementary strand thereof, preferably wherein the sequence identity is based on the entire sequence. Preferably, the sequence identity is determined by BLAST analysis, preferably in the NCBI database, in particular by GAP analysis using Gap Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3 or any other suitable analysis.

The present invention advantageously provides polynucleotides, in particular polynucleotides coding for a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, namely the apollo protein, and polynucleotides capable of functioning as regulatory elements for said coding sequence, in isolated and purified form. Furthermore, the present invention provides the teaching that plants, in particular their genome, comprise endogenously nucleotide sequences, hereinafter also called “polynucleotide” or “polynucleotide sequence”, coding said apollo protein capable of inducing apomixis and its regulatory elements, hereinafter also called “endogenously present polynucleotide coding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant”. Thus, both the coding and the regulatory sequences as specified for instance in SEQ ID No. 37, 40, 43, 46, 49 or 52 are usually endogenously present in various allelic states in their natural and original genome environment in a plant, particularly in Brassicaceae, preferably Boechera, and are responsible for the development of a sexual or apomictic phenotype in the plant. According to the findings of the present invention in the naturally occurring sexually propagating plant, said nucleotide sequences in their sexual allelic state, such as in SEQ ID No. 46, 49 or 52, however, are in the ovule of said plant repressed, that means not expressed, thereby preventing apomixis. In contrast, said polynucleotide in its apomictic allelic state, such as in SEQ ID No. 37, 40 or 43 is induced, that means is expressed in the ovule of a plant propagating asexually, that means an apomictic plant.

In particular, the invention is based on the teaching that in a plant ovule of a sexually propagating plant the endogenously present gene coding for the apollo protein with an apomixis-inducing capacity is suppressed or inactivated in said tissue and therefore needs to be activated in order to produce an apomictic plant. Both in sexually and apomictic plants the coding regions of the apollo gene in its apomictic and sexual allelic form, are functionally equivalent. Differences in their expression are due to their different regulatory elements preferably as specified in SEQ ID No. 57 to 62 and 65. In particular, apomictic regulatory elements, preferably those as identified in SEQ ID No. 55, 57, 58 and 59, are in particular characterised by the presence of a 20 base pair promoter insertion, in particular that of SEQ ID No. 65, which leads to an ovule expression, i.e. expression in the ovule, of a coding element linked to said regulatory element. The sexual regulatory element of the present invention is in particular characterised by the absence of such a promoter insert of SEQ ID No. 65 and is represented in particular by a regulatory element as given in SEQ ID No. 56, 60, 61 or 62 and provides a somatic gene expression, but not an expression in the ovule, possibly due to being suppressed in said tissue.

In particular, the invention therefore provides the teaching to modify, in particular activate or induce, that means to get said sequences expressed in order to achieve a plant of a desired phenotype, in particular an apomictic phenotype. This can preferably be achieved by either transforming a plant with expressible coding sequences for the apollo protein of the present invention for its expression in the plant, in particular a plant ovule, so as to provide the apomictic phenotype to said plant and its progeny or by transforming a plant with regulatory sequences of the present invention inducing the expression of the endogenously present polynucleotide coding for the present protein capable of inducing apomixis, that means the apollo protein in said plant. Furthermore, the present invention achieves its aim of providing an apomictic plant by transforming a plant with any nucleotide sequence, in particular any DNA molecule, which structurally interferes with the repressed regulatory element of an endogenously present apollo gene, in particular polynucleotide sequence, capable of expressing a protein capable of inducing apomixis in the plant, thereby derepressing said apollo gene and allowing its expression in a plant ovule so as to produce an apomictic plant.

Thus, the present invention foresees to introduce an exogenous polynucleotide, in particular transgenic, coding sequence for the apollo protein into a plant, so as to express said coding sequence in the plant ovule. The invention also foresees in an alternative embodiment to activate, that means to induce the expression of an endogenously present apollo gene, in particular polynucleotide coding for the apollo protein capable of inducing apomixis, that means to induce the endogenously present apollo gene in the plant.

In the context of the present invention, the term “inducing the expression of a gene- or polynucleotide-coding for protein capable of inducing apomixis” therefore refers to the activation, hereinafter also termed derepression, of a regulatory element governing the expression of said coding sequence, that means refers to the activation of expression allowing the production of a functional apollo protein in the plant ovule.

Thus, the present invention provides advantageous means and methods to induce apomixis in a plant. The polynucleotides of the present invention, in particular those which code for a protein capable of inducing apomixis, can be used to be transformed in a plant cell so as to produce a plant which comprises said exogenously introduced polynucleotide, expresses said polynucleotide in a plant ovule and thereby produces an apomictic phenotype and apomictic plant. This can in a particularly preferred embodiment be achieved by using the polynucleotides of the present invention, preferably defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54, preferably 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 47, 50 or 53, in particular 23, 25, 28, 30, 33, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50 or 53, coding for a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant ovule, preferably defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 4 to 21, preferably SEQ ID No. 4 to 9, SEQ ID No. 13 to 15 or SEQ ID No. 19 to 21, under control of a constitutively expressing promoter or a promoter providing an ovule-specific expression in the ovule.

Thus, in one preferred aspect of the present invention the isolated nucleic acid molecules comprise polynucleotides, in particular polynucleotides as specifically disclosed herein or polynucleotide variants, for use in inducing apomixis, which code for a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, in particular in a plant ovule, in particular code for a protein with a specific exonuclease activity capable of inducing apomixis, in particular apomeiosis, in a plant ovule, and wherein said specific polynucleotides or variants thereof can advantageously be used to be transferred into a plant, in particular plant cell, be stably integrated in its genome and can preferably be expressed, in particular and most preferably in a constitutive manner, in the ovule of the obtained transformed plant in order to produce a transgenic apomictic plant, in particular transgenic plant, which produces apomictic seed. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention it is foreseen to transfer a polynucleotide of the present invention encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant and being specified in any one of the consensus SEQ ID No. 1 to 9, preferably SEQ ID No. 4 to 9, most preferably SEQ ID No. 4 or 7, most preferably SEQ ID No. 5 or 8, most preferably SEQ ID No. 6 or 9 and in particular as specified in any one of the specific SEQ ID No. 10 to 21, preferably SEQ ID No. 13 to 15 or 19 to 21, into a plant so as to allow expression of said polynucleotide, preferably being under control of a constitutively or ovule-specific promoter, thereby producing the desired apollo protein in the ovule.

The present invention also provides polynucleotides which are capable of functioning as a regulatory element and which can be used to transform plant cells and whereby said polynucleotides capable of functioning as regulatory elements structurally modify the regulatory elements of the endogenously present genes which code for proteins capable of inducing apomixis so as to derepress, that means activate, the endogenously present regulatory elements of said genes thereby allowing the expression of the protein capable of inducing apomixis and producing plants with an apomictic phenotype. This particular approach is based on the findings of the present invention that the gene coding for the protein capable of inducing apomixis is present also in wild type plants, but is, however, not activated, that means is not induced and therefore is not expressed in the ovule of a sexually propagating plant. Without being bound by theory, in wild type sexually propagating plants the expression of the endogenously present gene coding for a protein capable of inducing apomixis is suppressed or inactivated, most likely due to suppressed regulatory elements of the protein-coding regions. Thus, the present invention foresees in one embodiment the introduction of regulatory elements which structurally interfere with the endogenously present and suppressed regulatory elements of a nucleotide sequence region coding for a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant ovule allows the reversion of the suppression of the regulatory elements and induces the expression of the coding sequence.

Accordingly, in a preferred embodiment a polynucleotide, in particular a specifically disclosed polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention, in particular a regulatory element as specified in any one of SEQ ID No. 55 to 62 or 65, is transformed into a plant so as to modify the endogenously present regulatory element having a sequence as given in the sexual promoter given in any one of SEQ ID No. 56, 60, 61 or 62 of an endogenously present gene encoding the apollo protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant so as to enable the expression of the endogenously present polynucleotide encoding the polypeptide capable of inducing apomixis in the plant, in particular the ovule.

Accordingly, the present invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules, which comprise polynucleotides, that means the polynucleotides specifically disclosed herein or polynucleotide variants, for use in inducing apomixis, wherein the specific polynucleotides or polynucleotide variants are regulatory elements and are useful for inducing apomixis in a plant in so far as they allow a regulatable expression of coding sequences operably linked thereto in the plant ovule, in particular during ovule development in a plant. Thus, these regulatory elements provide an ovule non-suppressability to a coding sequence and provide the advantage of being capable to direct expression of coding sequences in the ovule of plants.

Thus, in a particularly preferred embodiment an induced mutation, for instance a recombination, duplication, deletion, insertion or inversion, of all or part of the endogenously present regulatory element for the coding sequence of the polypeptide capable of inducing apomixis in a plant ovule allows the expression of said polynucleotide consequently leading to apomixis in the plant.

The present invention also allows and enables the induction of apomixis in a plant by modifying, in particular inducing, hereinafter also called activating, the expression of the endogenously present regulatory elements of the endogenously present nucleotide sequence encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant by structurally modifying said endogenously present regulatory elements for instance by mutating, in particular by insertion, deletion, duplication or inversion of said regulatory element. Said structural modification may preferably be achieved by any means for mutation, for instance radiation, use of chemical agents or of nucleotide sequences, in particular a DNA molecule, introduced into a plant cell, which means, in particular sequence, is capable of structurally interfering with said regulatory element and which sequence may be a transposon or any other sequence being able to interfere, for instance recombine or insert into said regulatory element in the ovule of a sexually propagating plant.

In a further embodiment, the present invention provides specific polynucleotides and polynucleotide variants which are capable of acting as regulatory elements, in particular promoters, which very specifically act in a regulatory manner in the ovule. In particular, in one preferred embodiment of such a regulatory element, hereinafter also called sexual promoter, said regulatory element is capable of being expressed in all somatic tissue of a transformed transgenic plant, but specifically not in the ovule of said plant. In another embodiment of such a regulatory element, hereinafter also called apo-promoter, of the present invention, said regulatory element is expressed in the somatic tissue of a transformed transgenic plant and is also expressed in the ovule of said plant. Thus, the present invention provides polynucleotides which in one embodiment allow a somatic gene expression excluding the ovule tissue, while in another embodiment an ovule gene expression is allowed. Said latter embodiment, namely the ovule expressing embodiment, being specified in any one of SEQ ID No. 55, 57, 58 or 59 is primarily characterised by a nucleotide sequence comprising a regulatory insert of twenty nucleotides with SEQ ID No. 65 in comparison to the firstly mentioned embodiment, namely the non-ovule expressing embodiment, lacking said insert and being specified in SEQ ID No. 56, 60, 61 or 62. Thus, in a particularly preferred embodiment the regulatory element of the present invention allowing expression in somatic tissue, but not in the ovule, that means the sexual promoter, is characterised by any one of SEQ ID No. 56, 60, 61 or 62. In a furthermore preferred embodiment of the present invention the regulatory element capable of being expressed in the ovule, in particular by being not suppressible or not suppressed, that means the apo-promoter, is characterised by SEQ ID No. 55, 57, 58 or 59.

Thus, the present invention relates in a further preferred embodiment to an isolated nucleic acid molecule, which comprises a polynucleotide, which polynucleotide is able to act as a regulatory element and is selected from the group consisting of a3) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 55 to 62 or 65, or a fully complementary strand thereof and b3) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, preferably 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a3), or a fully complementary strand thereof, preferably wherein the sequence identity is based on the entire sequence. Preferably, the sequence identity is determined by BLAST analysis, preferably in the NCBI database, in particular by GAP analysis using Gap Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3 or any other suitable analysis.

Thus, the present invention very advantageously allows the vegetative production of seed identical to the parent. In particular and preferably, the present nucleotide acid molecules can be transformed into a desired plant, for instance high yielding hybrids, in order to change their reproductive mode into apomictic seed production. Thus, high yielding hybrids can according to the present invention be used in seed production to multiply identical copies of said high yielding hybrid seed which would greatly reduce the cost for the seed production and in turn increases the number of genotypes which could commercially be offered. Further on, genes can be evaluated directly in commercial hybrids, since the progeny would not segregate saving the cumbersome backcrossing procedures. Apomixis can be used to stabilise desirable phenotypes even with complex traits such as hybrid vigor. Such traits can be maintained very easily and be multiplied via apomixis indefinitive. Further, the present invention provides the possibility to combine it with male sterility, advantageously preventing genetically engineered stabilised traits from being hybridised with undesired relatives.

The present invention provides a solution to the above-identified technical problem by providing specific isolated nucleic acid molecules which can be used for inducing apomixis in a plant, in particular in a plant ovule, preferably for inducing apomeiosis and/or parthenogenesis in a plant, preferably in a plant ovule.

These nucleic acid molecules of the present invention comprise in one preferred embodiment specific polynucleotides characterised by their ability to induce apomixis in a plant and by the presence of specific consensus nucleotide sequence patterns according to any one of SEQ ID No. 27, 28, 29, 30 or 31, in particular 27, 28, 29, 30, preferably 27 or 29, which represent nucleotide patterns present in all specifically disclosed apomixis-inducing alleles of the present invention.

In a further preferred embodiment the specific polynucleotides are the various apomixis-inducing alleles, which are specifically identified, isolated and characterised according to the present invention and are characterised in any one of SEQ ID No. 37 to 45.

The present invention is preferably characterised by providing polynucleotides and polypeptides in specific and in consensus forms. The consensus forms are generalised sequence motifs, that means patterns, being in one embodiment found in all of the polymorphic apollo genes identified and isolated according to the present invention, in particular are common to the coding sequence of all the different polymorphic forms including the apomictic and sexual forms. The consensus sequences are also given as generalised sequence motifs solely found in the apomictic polymorphic alleles or, in another embodiment, are solely found in the sexual polymorphic allelic forms isolated according to the present invention. The apomictic and sexual alleles can be classified by different consensus sequences for their regulatory elements and share the same consensus sequence for their coding regions. In the consensus sequence “Xaa” stands for any naturally occurring amino acid and “n” for any one of the nucleotides a, t, g or c.

The specific polynucleotides and polypeptides provided in the present invention are specifically isolated and analysed and display the consensus sequence pattern in exemplified form.

In a particularly preferred embodiment the present invention therefore relates to consensus and specific polynucleotides and polypeptides characterised in the following tables I to III.

Table I: Apollo-Amino Acid Sequences (Polypeptides)

TABLE 1 SEQ ID coded by No. type subtype characterisation SEQ ID No. 1 consensus Global Exonuclease domain 26 2 consensus Apo Exonuclease domain 31 3 consensus Sex Exonuclease domain 36 4 consensus Global protein with 22, 23 duplication 5 consensus Apo protein with 27, 28 duplication 6 consensus Sex protein with 32, 33 duplication 7 consensus Global protein without 24, 25 duplication 8 consensus Apo protein without 29, 30 duplication 9 consensus Sex protein without 34, 35 duplication 10 specific Apo A011a Exonuclease 39 domain 11 specific Apo A043a Exonuclease 42 domain 12 specific Apo A081a Exonuclease 45 domain 13 specific Apo A011a Protein 37, 38 14 specific Apo A043a Protein 40, 41 15 specific Apo A081a Protein 43, 44 16 specific Sex S011a Exonuclease 48 domain 17 specific Sex S355a Exonuclease 51 domain 18 specific Sex S390a Exonuclease 54 domain 19 specific Sex S011a Protein 46, 47 20 specific Sex S355a Protein 49, 50 21 specific Sex S390a Protein 52, 53 legend: A011a, A043a, A081a: apomictic Boechera holboellii alleles; S011a, S355a, S390a: sexual Boechera holboellii alleles “consensus” means consensus sequence, that means a general sequence motif present in more than one specific allele of the apollo gene with specifically identified positions for observed sequence deviations, namely nucleotide/amino acid polymorphisms. In amino acid sequences “Xaa” can be any naturally occurring amino acid. In nucleotide sequences “n” can be any of a, g, t or c, in introns “n” can additionally designate a missing nucleotide. “specific” means a specifically isolated polymorphic allele with sequenced or deduced nucleotide and amino acid sequence. “Global” means a consensus sequence both for apomictic and sexual apollo gene or protein. “Apo” means apomictic apollo gene or protein. “Sex” means sexual apollo gene or protein. “protein” means apollo protein. “Exonuclease domain” means the fragment of the apollo protein in which the specific biologically active DEDDh 3′-5′ exonuclease activity is located. “duplication” means a duplicated marker sequence optionally present in the coding region of the apomictic and sexual allele of the apollo gene and specified in SEQ ID No. 63 (amino acid) and 64 (nucleotide).

Table II: Apollo-Protein Coding Polynucleotides

TABLE 2 SEQ ID No. type subtype characterisation 22 consensus Global genomic with duplication 23 consensus Global coding with duplication 24 consensus Global genomic without duplication 25 consensus Global coding without duplication 26 consensus Global Exonuclease domain 27 consensus Apo genomic with duplication 28 consensus Apo coding with duplication 29 consensus Apo genomic without duplication 30 consensus Apo coding without duplication 31 consensus Apo Exonuclease domain 32 consensus Sex genomic with duplication 33 consensus Sex coding with duplication 34 consensus Sex genomic without duplication 35 consensus Sex coding without duplication 36 consensus Sex Exonuclease domain 37 specific Apo A011a genomic 38 specific Apo A011a coding 39 specific Apo A011a Exonuclease domain 40 specific Apo A043a genomic 41 specific Apo A043a coding 42 specific Apo A043a Exonuclease domain 43 specific Apo A081a genomic 44 specific Apo A081a coding 45 specific Apo A081a Exonuclease domain 46 specific Sex S011a genomic 47 specific Sex S011a coding 48 specific Sex S011a Exonuclease domain 49 specific Sex S355a genomic 50 specific Sex S355a coding 51 specific Sex S355a Exonuclease domain 52 specific Sex S390a genomic 53 specific Sex S390a coding 54 specific Sex S390a Exonuclease domain legend: see table I; “genomic” means genomic DNA sequence, preferably including regulatory elements, exons and introns. “coding” means solely the coding DNA sequence which codes the full length apollo protein.

Table III: Apollo-Regulatory Polynucleotides, Peptides and Inserts

TABLE 3 SEQ ID No. type subtype characterisation 55 consensus Apo promoter 56 consensus Sex promoter 57 specific Apo A011a promoter 58 specific Apo A043a promoter 59 specific Apo A081a promoter 60 specific Sex S011a promoter 61 specific Sex S355a promoter 62 specific Sex S390a promoter 63 specific Apo/Sex duplication, amino acids 64 specific Apo/Sex duplication, DNA 65 specific Apo promoter insert legend: see table I; “promoter insert”: regulatory insertion of 20 by found in apo-promoters

The present invention provides in one embodiment global consensus genomic sequences, in particular those of SEQ ID No. 22 and 24 which represent nucleotide sequence patterns found in the apomictic and sexual alleles of the present invention in so far as the nucleotide sequences given are to be found in both types of alleles.

Thus, in a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention polynucleotides coding for the apollo protein are provided which are characterised by any one of the polynucleotide sequences given in SEQ ID No. 23, 25 to 31, 33, 35 to 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53 or 54 which are consensus and specific sequences found in apomictic and sexual alleles and which code for the consensus or specific apollo protein of the present invention of any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, preferably of SEQ ID No. 4 to 9, 13 to 15 or 19 to 21 or an essential part thereof, namely the exonuclease domain of SEQ ID No. 1 to 3, 10 to 12 or 16 to 18. Most preferred are polynucleotides identified in Table I coding for the consensus apollo proteins or essential parts thereof, namely any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 or 21, in particular 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. In a preferred embodiment polynucleotides comprising any one of SEQ ID No. 23 or 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53 or 54 are preferred all of them comprising coding sequences for the apollo protein, but no sexual-specific regulatory elements being suppressible in a plant ovule. Thus, these sequences do not comprise the sexual promoters with SEQ ID No. 56 or any one of 60, 61 and 62, which are in particular lacking the promoter insert of SEQ ID No. 65.

However, also the polynucleotide sequences comprising sexual regulatory elements such as the polynucleotides of SEQ ID No. 32, 34, 46, 49, 52, 56, 60, 61 or 62 are preferred as comprising regulatory elements useful for providing suppressibility in plant ovule expression or for mutating endogenously present apollo genes so as to induce apomixis. These polynucleotides can, in a preferred embodiment, be modified, in particular to contain the apomictic promoter insert of SEQ ID No. 65 thereby resulting in a regulatory element being expressed in the ovule thereby not being suppressed anymore in the ovule of a plant.

The present invention also provides functionally equivalent polynucleotides for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, in particular in a plant ovule, preferably for inducing apomeiosis and/or parthenogenesis in a plant, preferably in a plant ovule, which do not exactly show the specific nucleotide sequence of said specific nucleotide sequence patterns or apomixis-inducing alleles and in particular given in the sequence identity protocols given herein, but which do exhibit slight deviations therefrom and which are in the context of the present invention termed “polynucleotide variants”. Such polynucleotide variants are allelic, polymorphic, mutated, truncated or prolonged variants of the polynucleotides defined in the present sequence identity protocols and which therefore show deletions, insertions, inversions or additions of nucleotides in comparison to the polynucleotides defined in the present sequence identity protocol. Thus, polynucleotide or polypeptide variants of the present invention, hereinafter also termed “functional equivalents” of a polynucleotide or polypeptide, have a structure and a sufficient length to provide the same biological activity, that means the same capability to induce apomixis in the plant as the specifically disclosed polynucleotides or polypeptides of the present invention.

A polypeptide coded by a polynucleotide variant of the present invention is—in case its amino acid sequence is altered in comparison to the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide coded by the polynucleotide of the present invention—termed a polypeptide variant. However, due to the degeneracy of the genetic code a polynucleotide variant not necessarily codes in any case for a polypeptide variant but may also code a polypeptide of the present invention.

The term “variant” refers to a substantially similar sequence of the specifically disclosed polynucleotides or polypeptides of the present invention. Generally, polynucleotide variants of the invention will have at least 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 65%, or 70%, preferably 75%, 80% or 90%, more preferably at least 91%, preferably at least 92%, preferably at least 93%, preferably at least 94%, preferably at least 95%, preferably at least 96%, preferably at least 97% and most preferably at least 98% or at least 99% sequence identity to the present polynucleotides, in particular those representing the present apomixis-inducing alleles, in particular its coding sequence, wherein the % sequence identity is based on the entire sequence. Preferably, the sequence identity is determined by BLAST analysis, preferably in the NCBI database, in particular by GAP analysis using Gap Weight of 50 and Length Weight of 3 or any other suitable analysis.

Generally, polypeptide sequence variants of the invention will have at least about 30%, 40%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75% or 80%, preferably at least about 85% or 90%, and more preferably at least about 91%, preferably at least 92%, preferably at least 93%, preferably at least 94%, preferably at least 95%, preferably at least 96%, preferably at least 97% and most preferably at least 98% or at least 99% sequence identity to the present protein capable of inducing apomixis, wherein the % sequence identity is based on the entire sequence. Preferably, the sequence identity is determined by BLAST analysis, preferably in the NCBI database, in particular by GAP analysis using Gap Weight of 12 and Length Weight of 4 or any other suitable analysis.

According to the present invention a number of amino acids of the present polypeptides can be replaced, inserted or deleted without altering a protein's function. The relationship between proteins is reflected by the degree of sequence identity between aligned amino acid sequences of individual proteins or aligned component sequences thereof.

For sequence alignments and the determination of sequence identities in the context of the present invention various programs and algorithms can be used, such as the Wilbur-Lipman (Wilbur W J, Lipman D J, (1983), Rapid similarity searches of nucleic acid and protein data banks. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 80:726-730), the Lipman-Pearson (Lipman D J, Pearson W R (1985), Rapid and sensitive protein similarity searches. Science 227:1435-1441), the Martinez-NW (Needleman-Wunsch) algorithms (Martinez H (1983), An efficient method for finding repeats in molecular sequences. Nucleic Acids Res 11:4629-4634; Needleman SB and Wunsch CD (1970), A general method applicable to the search for similarities in the amino acid sequences of two proteins. J Mol Biol 48:444-453) or a combination thereof. The Wilbur-Lipman method is preferably used with the default ones provided by the program (ktuple=3; Gap Penalty=3; window=20). As the instructions of the program MegAlign describes, the Wilbur-Lipman method constructs tables of K-tuples to find regions of similarity between two DNA sequence pairs using the method of Wilbur and Lipman (1983). This method reads the sequences, builds case structures of the K-tuples, finds the diagonals and matches, and creates the finished alignment. The method of Martinez-NW uses two alignment methods in succession. An approach described by Martinez (Martinez H (1983), An efficient method for finding repeats in molecular sequences. Nucleic Acids Res 11:4629-4634) identifies regions of perfect match. The Needleman-Wunsch (Needleman SB and Wunsch CD (1970), A general method applicable to the search for similarities in the amino acid sequences of two proteins. J Mol Biol 48:444-453) method then optimizes the fit in between perfect matches. The conditions of the alignment were the default ones provided by the program (Minimum Match=9; Gap Penalty=1.10; Gap Length Penalty=0.33). The program preferably used for calculating the algorithms can be MegAlign (DNASTAR Lasergene version 9 Core Suite (DNASTAR, Inc., 3801 Regent Street, Madison, Wis. 53705, USA).

Dynamic programming algorithms yield different kinds of alignments. Algorithms as proposed by Needleman and Wunsch and by Sellers align the entire length of two sequences providing a global alignment of the sequences. The Smith-Waterman algorithm yields local alignments. A local alignment aligns the pair of regions within the sequences that are most similar given the choice of scoring matrix and gap penalties. This allows a database search to focus on the most highly conserved regions of the sequences. It also allows similar domains within sequences to be identified. To speed up alignments using the Smith-Waterman algorithm both BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) and FASTA place additional restrictions on the alignments.

Within the context of the present invention alignments can be performed using BLAST, a set of similarity search programs designed to explore all of the available sequence databases regardless of whether the query is protein or DNA. Version BLAST 2.2 (Gapped BLAST) of this search tool has been made publicly available (currently http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST or http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST.cgi). It uses a heuristic algorithm which seeks local as opposed to global alignments and is therefore able to detect relationships among sequences which share only isolated regions. The scores assigned in a BLAST search have a well-defined statistical interpretation. Particularly useful within the scope of the present invention are the blastp program allowing for the introduction of gaps in the local sequence alignments and the PSI-BLAST program, both programs comparing an amino acid query sequence against a protein sequence database, as well as a blastp variant program allowing local alignment of two sequences only.

Sequence alignments, preferably using BLAST, can also take into account whether the substitution of one amino acid for another is likely to conserve the physical and chemical properties necessary to maintain the structure and function of a protein or is more likely to disrupt essential structural and functional features. For example non-conservative replacements may occur at a low frequency and conservative replacements may be made between amino acids within the following groups: (i) serine and threonine; (ii) glutamic acid and aspartic acid; (iii) arginine and lysine; (iv) asparagine and glutamine; (v) isoleucine, leucine, valine and methionine; (vi) phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan (vii) alanine and glycine.

Such sequence similarity is quantified in terms of percentage of positive amino acids, as compared to the percentage of identical amino acids.

The polynucleotide or polypeptide variants of the present invention, however, are in spite of their structural deviations also capable of exhibiting the same or essentially the same biological activity as the polynucleotides or polypeptides defined in the sequence identity protocols of the present invention.

In the context of the present invention the term “biological activity” refers to the capability of the polynucleotide or polypeptide of the present invention or their variants to induce apomixis in a plant. The term “to induce apomixis in a plant” refers to the capability of a polynucleotide or polypeptide or variant thereof to induce an asexual production of viable seed in a plant, in particular in the ovule of a plant, in particular the capability to induce apomeiosis or parthenogenesis or both apomeiosis and parthenogenesis in a plant ovule, in particular by coding or exerting an exonuclease activity in the ovule.

In one embodiment of the present invention a polynucleotide of the present invention is able to induce apomixis in a plant ovule by activating or derepressing, in particular by structurally changing, a regulatory element of an endogenously present gene coding for a protein with an ovule exonuclease activity, preferably ovule-specific exonuclease activity, capable of inducing apomixis in a plant. Such a gene is in particular characterised by having a polynucleotide sequence according to the present invention and thereby allowing, upon derepression, that means induction, the expression of said endogenously coded protein with an ovule exonuclease activity, preferably an ovule-specific exonuclease activity, capable of inducing apomixis in the plant.

In a particularly preferred embodiment the biological activity exerted by a polypeptide of the present invention, that means a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, is a specific exonuclease activity characterised by expression at least in the ovule, preferably by an ovule specificity, in so far as its expression is activated in the ovule, preferably specifically in the ovule, of an apomictic plant and repressed or inactivated in a sexual plant.

In particular, the present protein, namely the apollo protein, which is capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, in particular a plant ovule and having a specific exonuclease activity appears to be, without being bound by theory, a DEDD 3′-5′ exonuclease, also termed a DNA Q protein, which preferably is characterised by four acidic residues, namely three aspartats (D) and glutamate (E) distributed in three separate sequence segments, namely exo I, exo II and exo III (Moser et al., Nucl. Acids. Res 25 (1997), 5110-5118). Furthermore, these proteins are characterised by either a tyrosine (y) or histidine (h) amino acid located at its active side determinative for being a DEDDy or DEDDh protein. In a preferred embodiment, the present polypeptide capable of inducing apomixis in a plant ovule is a DEDDh exonuclease, preferably comprising the amino acid sequence as given in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 3, 10 to 12 or 16 to 18, preferably catalysing the excision of nucleoside monophosphates at the DNA or RNA termini in the 3′-5′ direction. In particular, the present exonuclease is a plant DEDDh exonuclease.

In a particularly preferred embodiment the specific biological activity performed by the polypeptide capable of inducing apomixis in the plant ovule in said plant ovule, that means the apollo protein, appears to be a meiosis-modifying, in particular meiosis-altering, changing or varying activity, in particular is a meiosis-inhibiting activity thereby preventing the reduction of chromosome number in the germ cells.

The isolated nucleic acid molecules of the present invention may be present in isolated form. The isolated nucleic acid molecules of the present invention may, however, also be combined with other nucleic acid molecules, for instance regulatory elements or vectors, thereby forming another molecule comprising not solely the nucleic acid molecule of the present invention. In this case the “nucleic acid molecule” of the present invention is also termed a “nucleic acid sequence” of the present invention.

In the context of the present invention the term “comprising” is understood to have the meaning of “including” or “containing” which means that one first entity contains a second entity, wherein said first entity may in addition to the second entity further contain a third entity. Thus, in particular, the term “a nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide” means that the nucleic acid molecule of the present invention contains a polynucleotide or a polynucleotide variant of the present invention, but may in addition contain other nucleotides or polynucleotides. In a particular preferred embodiment the term “comprising” as used herein is also understood to mean “consisting of” thereby excluding the presence of other elements besides the explicitly mentioned element. Thus, the present invention also relates to nucleic acid molecules which consist of polynucleotides or polynucleotide variants of the present invention, meaning that the nucleic acid molecule is only composed of the polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention and does not comprise any further nucleotides, polynucleotides or other elements. According to this embodiment, the nucleic acid molecule of the present invention is the polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention.

Both, the nucleic acid molecule of the present invention and the polynucleotide comprised therein do exhibit the desired biological activity of being capable of inducing apomixis.

The term “apomixis” refers to the replacement of the normal sexual reproduction by asexual reproduction, that means preferably reproduction without fertilisation of the egg cell, in particular that means only fertilisation of the central cell which is a pseudogamous event, in particular without any fertilisation, in particular the term refers to asexual reproduction through seeds, leading to apomictically produced offsprings or progeny genetically identical to the parent plant, in particular the female plant.

The term “gene” refers to a coding nucleotide sequence and associated regulatory nucleotide sequences. The coding sequence is transcribed into RNA, which depending on the specific gene, will be mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, snRNA, sense RNA or antisense RNA. Examples of regulatory sequences, hereinafter also termed regulatory elements, are promoter sequences, 5′ and 3′ untranslated sequences and termination sequences. Further elements that may be present are, for example, introns or enhancers. A structural gene may constitute an uninterrupted coding region or it may include one or more introns bounded by appropriate splice junctions. The structural gene may be a composite of segments derived from different sources, naturally occurring or synthetic.

The gene to be expressed may be modified in that known mRNA instability motifs or polyadenylation signals are removed or codons which are preferred by the plant into which the sequence is to be inserted may be used.

The present invention also relates to the present nucleic acid molecules, in particular a polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention, in particular a DNA sequence, wherein said nucleic acid molecule or sequence encodes a polypeptide capable of inducing apomixis, in particular in a plant, preferably plant ovule, and having, preferably comprising, the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID No. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17 or 18, or a polypeptide variant thereof, that means a functional equivalent of a polypeptide of the present invention, preferably a polypeptide being in terms of biological activity similar thereto. The present invention, thus, also provides a polypeptide variant of the present invention, in particular having a length of at least 150, at least 200, at least 250, at least 300, at least 350, at least 400, at least 450, at least 500 amino acids which after alignment reveals at least 30% or 40% and preferably at least 50%, at least 60%, at least 70%, at least 80%, at least 90%, at least 95%, at least 99% or more sequence identity with the, preferably full-length, polypeptide of the present invention, in particular as characterised in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 or 21.

The terms “protein” and “polypeptide” are used interchangeably and refer to a molecule with a particular amino acid sequence comprising at least 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 amino acid residues.

The term “polypeptide” thus means proteins of the present invention and variants thereof, in particular protein fragments, modified proteins, amino acid sequences and synthetic amino acid sequences. According to the present invention the polypeptide can be glycosylated or not.

A polypeptide variant of the present invention which is truncated is also termed a “fragment” of the present invention. Thus, the term “fragment” refers to a portion of a polynucleotide sequence or a portion of a polypeptide, that means an amino acid sequence of the present invention and hence polypeptide encoded thereby. Fragments of a polynucleotide sequence such as SEQ ID No. 26, 31, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51 or 54, may encode polypeptide fragments that retain the biological activity of the polypeptide of the present invention, such as given in any one of SEQ ID No. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17 or 18. Alternatively, fragments of a polynucleotide sequence that are useful as hybridization probes generally do not encode fragments of a polypeptide retaining biological activity. Fragments of a polynucleotide sequence are generally greater than 20, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200 or 300 nucleotides and up to the entire nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide of the present invention. Generally, the fragments have a length of less than 1000 nucleotides and preferably less than 500 nucleotides. Fragments of the invention include antisense sequences used to decrease expression of the present polynucleotides. Such antisense fragments may vary in length ranging from at least 20 nucleotides, 50 nucleotides, 100 nucleotides, up to and including the entire coding sequence.

The term “regulatory element” refers to a sequence, preferably a nucleotide sequence, located upstream (5′), within and/or downstream (3′) to a nucleotide sequence, preferably a coding sequence, whose transcription and expression is controlled by the regulatory element, potentially in conjunction with the protein biosynthetic apparatus of the cell. “Regulation” or “regulate” refer to the modulation of the gene expression induced by DNA sequence elements located primarily, but not exclusively upstream (5′) from the transcription start of the gene of interest. Regulation may result in an all or none response to a stimulation, or it may result in variations in the level of gene expression.

A regulatory element, in particular DNA sequence, such as a promoter is said to be “operably linked to” or “associated with” a DNA sequence that codes for a RNA or a protein, if the two sequences are situated and orientated such that the regulatory DNA sequence effects expression of the coding DNA sequence.

A “promoter” is a DNA sequence initiating transcription of an associated DNA sequence, in particular being located upstream (5′) from the start of transcription and being involved in recognition and being of the RNA-polymerase. Depending on the specific promoter region it may also include elements that act as regulators of gene expression such as activators, enhancers, and/or repressors.

A “3′ regulatory element” (or “3′ end”) refers to that portion of a gene comprising a DNA segment, excluding the 5′ sequence which drives the initiation of transcription and the structural portion of the gene, that determines the correct termination site and contains a polyadenylation signal and any other regulatory signals capable of effecting messenger RNA (mRNA) processing or gene expression. The polyadenylation signal is usually characterised by effecting the addition of polyadenylic acid tracts to the 3′ end of the mRNA precursor. Polyadenylation signals are often recognised by the presence of homology to the canonical form 5′-AATAAA-3′.

The term “coding sequence” refers to that portion of a gene encoding a protein, polypeptide, or a portion thereof, and excluding the regulatory sequences which drive the initiation or termination of transcription.

The gene, coding sequence or the regulatory element may be one normally found in the cell, in which case it is called “autologous”, or it may be one not normally found in a cellular location, in which case it is termed “heterologous” or “transgenic”.

A “heterologous” gene, coding sequence or regulatory element may also be autologous to the cell but is, however, arranged in an order and/or orientation or in a genomic position or environment not normally found or occurring in the cell in which it is transferred.

The term “vector” refers to a recombinant DNA construct which may be a plasmid, virus, autonomously replicating sequence, an artificial chromosome, such as the bacterial artificial chromosome BAC, phage or other nucleotide sequence, in which at least two nucleotide sequences, at least one of which is a nucleic acid molecule of the present invention, have been joined or recombined. A vector may be linear or circular. A vector may be composed of a single or double stranded DNA or RNA. A vector may be derived from any source. Such a vector is preferably capable of introducing the regulatory element, for instance a promoter fragment, and the nucleic acid molecule of the present invention, preferably a DNA sequence for inducing apomixis, in a plant, in sense or antisense orientation along with appropriate 3′ untranslated sequence into a cell, in particular a plant cell.

The term “expression” refers to the transcription and/or translation of an endogenous gene or a transgene in plants.

“Marker genes” usually encode a selectable or screenable trait. Thus, expression of a “selectable marker gene” gives the cell a selective advantage which may be due to their ability to grow in the presence of a negative selective agent, such as an antibiotic or a herbicide compared to the growth of non-transformed cells. The selective advantage possessed by the transformed cells, compared to non-transformed cells, may also be due to their enhanced or novel capacity to utilize an added compound as a nutrient, growth factor or energy source. Selectable marker gene also refers to a gene or a combination of genes whose expression in a plant cell gives the cell both, a negative and a positive selective advantage. On the other hand a “screenable marker gene” does not confer a selective advantage to a transformed cell, but its expression makes the transformed cell phenotypically distinct from untransformed cells.

The term “expression in the vicinity of the embryo sac” refers to expression in carpel, integuments, ovule, ovule primordium, ovary wall, chalaza, nucellus, funicle or placenta. The term “integuments” refers to tissues which are derived therefrom, such as endothelium. The term “embryogenic” refers to the capability of cells to develop into an embryo under permissive conditions.

The term “plant” refers to any plant, but particularly seed plants.

The term “transgenic plant” or “transgenic plant cell” or “transgenic plant material” refers to a plant, plant cell or plant material which is characterised by the presence of a polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention, which may—in case it is autologous to the plant—either be located at another place or in another orientation than usually found in the plant, plant cell or plant material or which is heterologous to the plant, plant cell or plant material. Preferably, the transgenic plant, plant cell or plant material expresses the polynucleotide or its variants such as to induce apomixis.

A transgenic plant, transgenic plant cell or transgenic plant material can be identified at the phenotypical level, for instance by observation of apomictic seed production, or at protein level, for instance by immunodetection or at the DNA or RNA level, for instance with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Even in case the transgene in the transgenic plant, transgenic plant cell or transgenic plant material has a natural homologue therein with a very high similarity, PCR can be used to discriminate such a transgene by at least one nucleotide difference. In particular, SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) existing between host alleles and transforming alleles can be used to detect transformed plants simply by PCR.

The term “plant cell” describes the structural and physiological unit of the plant, and comprises a protoplast and a cell wall. The plant cell may be in form of an isolated single cell, such as a stomatal guard cells or a cultured cell, or as a part of a higher organized unit such as, for example, a plant tissue, or a plant organ.

The term “plant material” includes plant parts, in particular plant cells, plant tissue, in particular plant propagation material, preferably leaves, stems, roots, emerged radicles, flowers or flower parts, petals, fruits, pollen, pollen tubes, anther filaments, ovules, embryo sacs, egg cells, ovaries, zygotes, embryos, zygotic embryos per se, somatic embryos, hypocotyl sections, apical meristems, vascular bundles, pericycles, seeds, roots, cuttings, cell or tissue cultures, or any other part or product of a plant.

Thus, the present invention also provides plant propagation material of the transgenic plants of the present invention. Said “plant propagation material” is understood to be any plant material that may be propagated sexually or asexually in vivo or in vitro. Particularly preferred within the scope of the present invention are protoplasts, cells, calli, tissues, organs, seeds, embryos, pollen, egg cells, zygotes, together with any other propagating material obtained from transgenic plants. Parts of plants, such as for example flowers, stems, fruits, leaves, roots originating in transgenic plants or their progeny previously transformed by means of the methods of the present invention and therefore consisting at least in part of transgenic cells, are also an object of the present invention. Especially preferred plant materials, in particular plant propagation materials, are apomictic seeds.

Particularly preferred plants are monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous plants. Particularly preferred are crop or agricultural plants, such as sunflower, peanut, corn, potato, sweet potato, bean, pea, chicory, lettuce, endive, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, turnip, radish, spinach, onion, garlic, eggplant, celery, carrot, squash, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, apple, pear, melon, strawberry, grape, raspberry, pineapple, soybean, Cannabis, Humulus (hop), tomato, sorghum, sugar cane, and non-fruit bearing trees such as poplar, rubber, Paulownia, pine, elm, Lolium, Festuca, Dactylis, alfalfa, safflower, tobacco, cassaya, coffee, coconut, pineapple, citrus trees, cocoa, tea, banana, avocado, fig, guava, mango, olive, papaya, cashew, macadamia, almond, green beans, lima beans, peas, fir, hemlock, spruce, redwood, in particular maize, wheat, barley, sorghum, rye, oats, turf and forage grasses, millet, rice and sugar cane. Especially preferred are maize, wheat, sorghum, rye, oats, turf grasses and rice.

Particularly preferred are also ornamental plants such as ornamental flowers and ornamental crops, for instance Begonia, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Gardenia, Asparagus, Geranium, Daisy, Gladiolus, Petunia, Gypsophila, Lilium, Hyacinth, Orchid, Rose, Tulip, Aphelandra, Aspidistra, Aralia, Clivia, Coleus, Cordyline, Cyclamen, Dracaena, Dieffnbachia, Ficus, Philodendron, Poinsettia, Fern, Ivy, Hydrangea, Limonium, Monstera, Palm, Date-palm, Potho, Singonio, Violet, Daffodil, Lavender, Lily, Narcissus, Crocus, Iris, Peonies, Zephyranthes, Anthurium, Gloxinia, Azalea, Ageratum, Bamboo, Camellia, Dianthus, Impatien, Lobelia, Pelargonium, Lilac, Lily of the Valley, Stephanotis, Hydrangea, Sunflower, Gerber daisy, Oxalis, Marigold and Hibiscus.

Among the dicotyledonous plants Arabidopsis, Boechera, soybean, cotton, sugar beet, oilseed rape, tobacco, pepper, melon, lettuce, Brassica vegetables, in particular Brassica napus, sugar beet, oilseed rape and sunflower are more preferred herein.

“Transformation”, “transforming” and “transferring” refers to methods to transfer nucleic acid molecules, in particular DNA, into cells including, but not limited to, biolistic approaches such as particle bombardment, microinjection, permeabilising the cell membrane with various physical, for instance electroporation, or chemical treatments, for instance polyethylene glycol or PEG, treatments; the fusion of protoplasts or Agrobacterium tumefaciens or rhizogenes mediated trans-formation. For the injection and electroporation of DNA in plant cells there are no specific requirements for the plasmids used. Plasmids such as pUC derivatives can be used. If whole plants are to be regenerated from such transformed cells, the use of a selectable marker is preferred. Depending upon the method for the introduction of desired genes into the plant cell, further DNA sequences may be necessary; if, for example, the Ti or Ri plasmid is used for the transformation of the plant cell, at least the right border, often, however, the right and left border of the Ti and Ri plasmid T-DNA have to be linked as flanking region to the genes to be introduced. Preferably, the transferred nucleic acid molecules are stably integrated in the genome or plastome of the recipient plant.

The expression “progeny” or “offspring” refers to both, “asexually” and “sexually” generated progeny of transgenic plants. This definition is also meant to include all mutants and variants obtainable by means of known processes, such as for example cell fusion or mutant selection and which still exhibit the characteristic properties of the initial transformed plant of the present invention, together with all crossing and fusion products of the transformed plant material. This also includes progeny plants that result from a backcrossing, as long as the said progeny plants still contain the polynucleotide and/or polypeptide according to the present invention.

The isolated nucleic acid molecule of the present invention is preferably a DNA, preferably a DNA from a plant, preferably from Brassicaceae, in particular Boechera, in particular Boechera holboellii, Boechera divaricarpa or Boechera stricta, in a particular genomic or cDNA sequence molecule. It may, however, also be a RNA, in particular mRNA.

The present invention also provides in a preferred embodiment a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence according to the present invention. Both, the specific polynucleotide or the polynucleotide variant of the present invention can be contained in the vector in sense or antisense orientation to a regulatory element.

In a preferred embodiment the vector comprises the nucleic acid sequence of the present invention, in particular the specific polynucleotide or its variant coding the apomixis-inducing protein of the present invention, operably linked to at least one regulatory element, for instance a promoter, enhancer and/or polyadenylation signal.

In a preferred embodiment, said promoter is an inducible or constitutive promoter. The promoter may be a regulatable promoter. The promoter may also be an ovule-specific promoter, which is a promoter allowing the expression of an operably linked coding sequence in the plant ovule of a plant, but not in other plant tissues. In a preferred embodiment, the promoter is the Ubiquitin-, ocs-, mas-, actin-, ADH-, NOS- or CaMV355-promoter. In order to obtain expression of the present nucleic acid molecule in a regenerated plant, in particular the ovule thereof, in a tissue specific manner the polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention is preferably under expression control a regulatory element, for instance of an inducible or developmentally regulated promoter.

In a furthermore preferred embodiment of the present invention the polynucleotide, in particular the specific polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant, coding for a protein with exonuclease activity is operably linked to a polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention which is able to act as a regulatory element, in particular a promoter.

In a furthermore preferred embodiment of the present invention the vector comprises a polynucleotide, in particular the specific polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention capable of acting as a regulatory element operably linked to a protein coding nucleic acid sequence desired to be expressed in a plant, in particular a plant ovule.

The present invention also provides in a preferred embodiment a host cell containing the vector of the present invention. Preferably, the host cell is not a human cell, preferably not a human stem cell, germinal cell or embryogenic cell.

The present invention also provides a transgenic plant, plant cell, plant material, in particular plant seed comprising at least one nucleic acid molecule according to the present invention or the vector of the present invention. The present invention also provides in a preferred embodiment a cell culture, preferably a plant cell culture comprising a cell according to the present invention.

In a particularly preferred embodiment the present invention provides a transgenic plant, plant cell, plant material, in particular plant seed, wherein the polynucleotide, the polypeptide or the variant thereof exhibit its biological function. In a particular embodiment of the present invention a plant or plant seed is provided which comprises the polynucleotide, polypeptide or variants thereof of the present invention and which show due to the presence of said polynucleotide or polypeptide or variant thereof apomixis.

The present invention also provides proteins, in particular polypeptides or polypeptides variants, that means functional equivalents to polypeptides of the present invention, that means polypeptides capable of inducing apomixis in a plant or in vitro, which are coded by the nucleic acid molecules of the present invention.

Thus, in a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention the present proteins capable of inducing apomixis in a plant are apollo proteins, that means comprise an amino acid sequence as characterised by any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 21, preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 or 21, preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. In a particularly preferred embodiment the present proteins capable of inducing apomixis in a plant have, preferably comprise, an amino acid sequence as set forth in any one of SEQ ID No. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 21, preferably 13, 14, 15, 19, 20 or 21. Preferred are also proteins comprising the amino acid sequence as given in SEQ ID No. 1, 2 or 3.

The present invention also provides a method for inducing apomixis in a plant, wherein the expression of a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in the plant, in particular the apollo protein, in particular in the ovule of the plant, is induced in said ovule. Most preferably, said protein has, preferably comprises, the amino acid sequence as specified in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21, preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 21, preferably 4 to 9, 13 to 15 or 19 to 21, preferably 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 or 21, most preferably 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9, in particular 1, 2 or 3.

Thus, the present invention foresees a method according to which in a plant ovule the expression of the polynucleotides of the present invention, in particular the presence of the protein of the present invention capable of inducing apomixis, is provided in order to induce apomixis and whereby said polynucleotides either have been transformed in said plant in an expressible status, that means in a form capable of inducing apomixis, or are endogenously present and are activated, in particular their regulatory elements, by mutation, for instance by radiation, chemical agents or exogenously transformed polynucleotides. Thus, the present invention provides the teaching to induce the expression of polynucleotides of the present invention in the plant ovule so as to allow the induction of apomixis in the plant ovule.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention the present invention therefore foresees to induce expression of polynucleotides encoding polypeptides capable of inducing apomixis in a plant ovule by transforming a plant with polynucleotides of the present invention being under appropriate regulatory control, in particular under control of a promoter, which polynucleotide codes a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant, so as to allow and induce expression of the transformed polynucleotide in the plant ovule thereby inducing apomixis in the plant.

The present invention also provides a method for inducing apomixis in a plant by transforming a plant cell with the isolated nucleic acid molecule according to the present invention or the vector according to the present invention and regenerating the transformed plant cell into a transformed plant that contains, in particular contains and expresses, the at least one nucleic acid sequence of the present invention so as to induce apomixis in the plant.

The present invention also provides a method for inducing apomixis in a plant, wherein the regulation of endogenously present polynucleotides having the same DNA sequence as the presently isolated polynucleotides of the present invention are induced to be expressed in a plant ovule. Thus, in this preferred embodiment, the present invention teaches to induce the expression of endogenously present polynucleotides encoding proteins capable of inducing apomixis in a plant ovule, in particular by structurally altering the regulatory elements of said endogenously present polynucleotide sequence, in particular its promoter, so as to allow expression therefrom.

The present invention achieves said structurally altering of the regulatory elements of said endogenously present polynucleotide sequence coding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in the plant by transforming the plant with either any DNA sequence capable of structurally modifying the endogenously present regulatory elements of said polynucleotide capable of expressing a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant or by transforming the specific regulatory elements of the present invention so as to induce apomixis in the plant.

Thus, the present invention also relates to a method for the production of an apomictic plant by transforming a plant cell with the isolated nucleic acid molecule or the vector of the present invention and regenerating the transformed plant cell into a transformed plant that contains, in particular contains and expresses, the at least one nucleic acid sequence of the present invention so as to induce apomixis in the plant.

The present invention also provides a method of inducing vegetative reproduction via seeds in a plant generation comprising transforming a plant cell with the isolated nucleic acid molecule according to the present invention or the vector according to the present invention and regenerating the transformed plant cell into a transformed plant which contains, in particular contains and expresses, the at least one nucleic acid sequence so as to induce apomixis in the plant.

The present invention also provides a method for inducing apomixis, in particular for inducing vegetative reproduction of a new or further plant generation, comprising transgenically expressing a nucleic acid molecule, in particular nucleic acid sequence of the present invention, in particular in a plant or plant cell.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention the nucleic acid sequence of the present invention, in particular the transgenic polynucleotide or polynucleotide variant of the present invention, is transgenically expressed in the ovule, in particular vicinity of the embryo sac.

The present invention also provides in a preferred embodiment a method for isolating an apomixis-inducing nucleic acid molecule from a plant wherein the isolated nucleic acid molecule of the present invention is used to screen and isolate nucleic acid molecules derived from the plant. Thus, the present invention provides the teaching on the identity of a nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in plants which allows the skilled person to design on the basis of said nucleic acid molecules one or more primer to identify similar sequence by PCR in a genome or a part thereof.

The present invention also relates in a preferred embodiment to a method for identifying, in particular screening, for an effector of apomixis, in particular an apomictic phenotype, wherein a transgenic plant, plant cell or plant material according to the present invention is used, in particular cultivated, preferably cultivated and analysed.

Apomixis effectors can be detected by different technologies, preferably depending upon the initial information available, for instance by protein or immunodetection.

Thus, the present invention also provides means and methods to identify and obtain further substances, in particular proteins or nucleic acid sequences, which are involved in the development of an apomictic phenotype, in particular which are associated, in particular relate to the development of an apomictic phenotype.

Whilst the present invention is particularly described by way of the production of apomictic seed by heterologous expression of a polynucleotide of the present invention, it will be recognized that variants of the present polynucleotides, the products of which have a similar structure and function may likewise be expressed with similar results. Moreover, although the example illustrates apomictic seed production in Boechera and Arabidopsis, the invention is, of course, not limited to the expression of apomictic seed-inducing genes solely in these plants. Moreover, the present disclosure also includes the possibility of expressing the inventive polynucleotides in transformed plant material in a constitutive, tissue non-specific manner, for example under transcriptional control of a Ubiquitin-, ocs-, mas-, actin-, ADH-, CaMV35S or NOS promoter.

The following embodiments represent particularly preferred variants of the present invention.

Embodiment 1: A method for inducing apomixis in a plant, wherein a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant is induced to be expressed in the ovule of said plant and wherein said nucleotide sequence comprises a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 30%, 40%, 50% or preferably 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa1) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 26, 31, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb1) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc1) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 30%, 40%, 50% or, preferably 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa1) or xb1), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa2) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22, 23, 27, 28, 32, 33 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb2) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 4, 5, 6 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc2) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa2) or xb2), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 4: An isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, which comprises a polynucleotide which polynucleotide is able to act as a regulatory element and is selected from the group consisting of

a3) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 55 to 62 or 65 or a fully complementary strand thereof and

b3) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a3), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 5: An isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, which comprises a polynucleotide coding for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa4) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 26, 31, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb4) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc4) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 98% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa4) or xb4), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 6: An isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, which comprises a polynucleotide coding for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa5) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb5) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc5) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 90% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa5) or xb5), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 7: A vector comprising the nucleic acid molecule of any one of embodiments 4 to 6.

Embodiment 8: A host cell containing the vector of embodiment 7.

Embodiment 9: A protein encoded by a nucleotide acid sequence according to any one of embodiments 5 or 6.

Embodiment 10: A transgenic plant, plant cell or plant material comprising at least one transgenic nucleic acid molecule of any one of embodiments 4 to 6 or the vector of embodiment 7.

Embodiment 11: A cell culture, preferably a plant cell culture comprising a cell according to embodiment 8.

Embodiment 12: The method for inducing apomixis in a plant according to any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the expression is induced by transforming a plant cell with an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity as defined in any one of embodiments 1 to 3, 5 or 6, with the isolated nucleic acid molecule of embodiment 4 or with the vector according to embodiment 7 and regenerating the transformed plant cell into a transformed plant that contains the transformed at least one nucleic acid sequence so as to induce apomixis in the plant.

Embodiment 13: A method for the production of an apomictic plant, wherein a plant cell is transformed with a nucleic acid molecule capable of inducing the expression of a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant and regenerating the transformed plant cell into a transformed plant that contains the transformed nucleic acid molecule so as to induce apomixis in the plant, wherein the nucleotide sequence encoding the protein capable of inducing apomixis in the plant is a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

Embodiment 14: The method for the production of an apomictic plant by transforming according to embodiment 13, wherein the plant cell is transformed with an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

or with the isolated nucleic acid molecule of embodiment 4 or with the vector of embodiment 7 and the transformed plant cell is regenerated into a transformed plant that contains the at least one nucleic acid sequence so as to induce apomixis in the plant.

Embodiment 15: A method for isolating an apomixis inducing nucleic acid molecule from a plant, wherein an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of

xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof,

xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof, and

xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof.

or the isolated nucleic acid molecule of embodiment 4 or the vector of embodiment 7 is used to screen and isolate nucleic acid sequences derived from the plant.

Embodiment 16: A transgenic plant, plant cell or plant material comprising a cell according to any one of embodiment 8 or produced according to a method according to any one of embodiments 13 or 14 or progeny thereof.

Embodiment 17: The transgenic plant, plant cell or plant material according to embodiment 16 transgenically expressing the nucleotide acid sequence of any one of embodiments 5 or 6.

Embodiment 18: A method for identifying an effector for apomixis in a plant, wherein the transgenic plant, plant cell or plant material according to any one of embodiments 16 or 17 is cultivated.

Further preferred embodiments of the present invention are the subject matter of the subclaims.

The invention will now be illustrated by way of example.

EXAMPLE 1 Screening and Isolation of Apomixis-Inducing Gene (Apollo Gene) 1.a) Plant Material and Seed Screen Analysis

Plants were grown from seedlings onwards in a phytotron under controlled environmental conditions. The flow cytometric seed screen was used to analyse reproductive variability in 18 Boechera accessions (Table IV).

Table IV.: Boechera Accessions Used in Microarrays and RT-PCR Analyses.

TABLE 4 Table IV - Boechera accessions used in Microarrays and RT-PCR analyses. Apomeiosis Accession frequency Collection locality B08-1 1 Birch Creek, Montana B08-11 1 Sliderock, Ranch Creek, Granite, Montana B08-33 1 Mule Ranch, Montana B08-111 1 Morgan Switch Back, Idaho B08-81 1 Vipond Park, Beaverhead, Montana B08-168 1 Vipond Park, Beaverhead, Montana B08-43 1 Mule Ranch, Montana B08-66 1 Highwood Mtns, Montana B08-104 1 Lost Trail Meadow B08-215 1 Blue Lakes road, California B08-369 0 Twin Saddle, Idaho B08-376 0 Sagebrush Meadow, Montana B08-380 0 Buffalo Pass, Colorado B08-355 0 Gold Creek, Colorado B08-329 0 Big Hole Pass, Montana B08-385 0 Parker Meadow, Idaho B08-344 0 Bandy Ranch, Montana B08-390 0 Panther Creek

Single seeds were ground individually with three 2.3 mm stainless steel beads in each well of 96-well plate (PP-Master-block 128.0/85 MM, 1.0 ml 96 well plate by Greiner bio-one, www.gbo.com) containing 50 μl extraction-nuclei isolation buffer (see below) using a Geno-Grinder 2000 (SPEX Certi-Prep) at rate of 150 strokes/minute for 90 seconds.

A two-step procedure consisting of an isolation and staining buffer was used: (a) isolation buffer I—0.1M Citric acid monohydrate and 0.5% v/v Tween 20 dissolved in H₂O and adjusted to pH 2.5); and (b) staining buffer II—0.4M Na₂HPO₄.12H₂O dissolved in H₂O plus 4 μg/ml 4′,6-Diamidinophenyl-indole (DAPI) and adjusted to pH 8.5. 50 μl of isolation buffer I was added to each seed per well in a 96-well plate before grinding, and a further 160 μl buffer I was added after grinding to recover enough volume through filtration (using Partec 30 μm mesh-width nylon filters). 100 μl of staining buffer II was then added to 50 μl of the resultant suspension (isolated nuclei), and incubated on ice for 10 minutes before flow cytometric analysis. To avoid sample degradation over the 2-hour period required for the analysis of 96 samples, the sample plate was sealed with aluminum sealing tape.

All sample plates were analysed on a 4° C. cooled Robby-Well auto-sampler hooked up to a Partec PAII flow Cytometer (Partec GmbH, Munster, Germany). Two single seeds from SAD 12, a known sexual self-fertile Boechera were always included as an external reference at well positions 1 and 96 in order to normalize other peaks and correct peak shifts over the analysis period. SAD 12 seeds were composed exclusively of 2C embryo to 3C endosperm ratio, which reflected an embryo composition of C (C denotes monoploid DNA content) maternal (Cm) genomes+C paternal (Cp)=2C genomes, and an endosperm composition of 2 Cm+Cp=3C.

Based upon the present high-throughput flow-cytometric seed screen data, all apomictic accessions were shown to be characterized by 100% apomictic seed production.

1.b) Ovule Micro-Dissection

Ovules at megasporogenesis between stages 2-II to 2-IV were selected where megaspore mother cell is differentiated, inner and outer integument initiated in order to examine changes in gene expression associated with meiosis and apomeiosis. The gynoecia of sexual and apomictic Boechera were dissected out from non-pollinated flowers at the stage of megasporogenesis in 0.55 M sterile mannitol solution, at a standardized time (between 8 and 9 a.m.) over multiple days. Microdissections were done in a sterile laminar air flow cabinet using a stereoscopic Microscope (1000 Stemi, Carl Zeiss, Jena, Germany) under 2× magnification. The gynoecium was held with forceps while a sterile scalpel was used to cut longitudinally such that the halves of the silique along with the ovules were immediately exposed to the mannitol. Individual live ovules were subsequently collected under an inverted Microscope (Axiovert 200M, Carl Zeiss) in sterile conditions, using sterile glass needles (self-made using a Narishige PC-10 puller, and bent to an angle of about 100°) to isolate the ovules from placental tissue. Using a glass capillary (with an opening of 150 μm interior diameter) interfaced to an Eppendorf Cell Tram Vario, the ovules were collected in sterile Eppendorf tubes containing 100 μl of RNA stabilizing buffer (RNA later, Sigma). Between 20 and 40 ovules per accession were collected in this way, frozen directly in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80° C.

1.c) Ovule RNA Isolation

Total RNA extractions were carried out using PicoPure RNA isolation kit (Arcturus Bioscience, CA). RNA integrity and quantity was verified on an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer using the RNA Pico chips (Agilent Technologies, Palo Alto, Calif.).

1.d) Microarray 1.d.i) Microarray Design

The 454 (FLX) technology was used to sequence the complete transcriptomes of 3 sexual and 3 apomictic Boechera accessions, as a first step in the design of high-density Boechera-specific microarrays for use in comparisons of gene expression and copy number variation. The goal of transcriptome sequencing was thus to identify all genes which can be expressed during flower development, followed by the spotting of all identified genes onto an (Agilent) microarray.

This was accomplished by pooling flowers at multiple developmental stages separately for sexual and apomictic plants, followed by a cDNA normalization procedure in order to balance out transcript levels to increase the chance that all observable mRNA species are sequenced. Furthermore, a 3′-UTR (untranslated region) anchored 454 procedure was employed such that mRNA sequences were biased towards their 3′-UTRs, regions which demonstrate relatively high (but not random) levels of variability, to enable the identification of allelic variation.

The 454 sequences were assembled using the CLC Genomics workbench using standard assembly parameters for long-read high-throughput sequences, after trimming of all reads using internal sequence quality scores. In doing so, 36 289 contig sequences and 154 468 non-assembled singleton sequences were obtained. This data was provided to ImaGenes (GmbH, Germany) for microarray development using their Pre-selection strategy (PSS) service.

The PSS service worked as follows: 14 different oligonucleotides (each 60 bp in length) per contig and 8 oligonucleotides per singleton, including the “anti-sense” sequence of each oligo, were bioinformatically designed and spotted onto two 1 million-spot test arrays. These test-arrays were probed using (1) a “complex cRNA mixture” (obtained by pooling tissues and harvesting all RNA from them), and (2) genomic DNA extracted from leaf tissue pooled from a sexual and an apomictic individual. Based upon the separate hybridization results from the cRNA and genomic DNA samples, and after all quality tests, a final 2×105 000 spot array was designed. This array should contain multiple oligonucleotides (i.e. technical replicates) of every gene expressed during Boechera flower development.

1.d.ii) Hybridization

cRNA was prepared and labelled using the Quick-Amp One-Color Labeling Kit (Agilent Technologies, CA) and hybridized to the Agilent custom Boechera arrays (8 and 10 biological replicates were hybridized for sexual and apomictic genotypes respectively).

1.d.iii) Statistical Analysis

Analyses were performed using GeneSpring GX Software (version 10) and candidate probes significantly differentially expressed (p 0.05) between apomictic and sexual plants were selected based on the following parameters: (a) percentile shift 75 normalization, median as baseline, reproductive mode (apomictic or sexual) as interpretation (1st level), T-test unpaired as statistical analysis and Bonferroni FWER multiple test corrections. Using the highest level of significance cutoff led to the identification of 4 different spots on the microarray (p<0.01 for the first three and p<0.05 for the fourth). Importantly, when the oligonucleotide sequences of these 4 spots were BLASTed to a 454 cDNA sequence database, all 4 blasted to the same Boechera transcript. Thus, not only has the present experiment been corrected for biological noise, furthermore a single differentially-expressed transcript between the microdissected ovules of all sexual and apomictic genotypes, with 4 technical replicates for the specific gene on the microarray was detected. This gene is expressed to a similar fashion when comparing both diploid and triploid apomictic ovules to those of sexuals, and hence its expression behavior is apparently not influenced by ploidy. Finally, a search for homologues to this Boechera transcript demonstrated that it is involved with the cell cycle in other species, thus supporting evidence regarding deregulation of the sexual pathway as a means to produce apomixis.

EXAMPLE 2 Characterisation of Apomixis-Inducing Gene 2.a) Candidate Gene Characterization 2.a.i) Genome Level 2.a.i.1) Cloning

The full-length transcript from all 18 accessions was cloned and sequenced (TOPO-TA Cloning kit, Invitrogen) using proofreading polymerase (Accuprime). The transcript is highly polymorphic, and is characterized by comparable levels of single nucleotide polymorphisms between sexual and apomicts. Nevertheless, a single “apomixis polymorphism” is found in all 10 apomictic accessions, but not in any sexual accession. SEQ ID No. 46 to 54 show the genomic and the coding sequence of three sexual alleles, namely S011a, S355a and S390a. SEQ ID No. 37 to 45 show the genomic and the coding sequence of three apomictic alleles, namely A011a, A043a and A081a. Considering that the geographic collection points of all accessions range from California to the American mid-west (i.e. 1000's of kilometers), the sharing of this polymorphism in all apomicts is highly significant. Finally, the SNP polymorphism spectrum surrounding the “apomixis polymorphism” reflects that found in all other alleles in both sexual and apomictic accessions. Hence the “apomixis polymorphism” appears to have undergone recombination during the evolution of Boechera, but which is nonetheless shared by all apomicts, regardless of different genetic, ploidy or geographic backgrounds.

2.a.i.2) BAC

Pooled DNA of all tissues accessions was used as a template for hybridization probes generation. Two probes of different size (1.6 and 2.3 kb) were prepared by PCR amplification using two pairs of specific primers of the candidate gene genomic sequence. Both probes were labeled and used for hybridization on a apomictic Boechera BAC library. There were 8 positive hybridizations. The respective isolated BACs (PureLink Plasmid DNA Purification kit) were named 1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Selected BACs were retested using specific primers for the candidate gene. All BACs were confirmed except the BAC-3. The other seven BACs were fingerprinted by restriction enzyme digestion. BAC-1 and BAC-2a seemed to be redundant with the other BACs. The BACs: 2b, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were sequenced.

BAC sequences could be assembled together for the pairs 2b_(—)4 and 5_(—)7, whereas BAC-6 remained alone.

BAC sequences were characterized by comparison with other plant sequences.

2.a.ii) Transcriptome Level

RACE experiments (SMARTer RACE cDNA Amplification Kit) were performed.

The results revealed that mRNA corresponding to apomictic accessions has a truncated 5′ extreme upstream the “apomixis polymorphism” whereas sexual accessions have ˜200 pb of additional length.

Once 5′ and 3′ mRNA extremes were known, further PCRs over all tissues cDNA were performed for complete splicing profile characterization.

2.b) Validation 2.b.i) QRT-PCR

An allele-specific qRT-PCR analysis of the candidate gene on the microdissected live ovules (megaspore mother cell stage) from 6 sexual and 10 diploid apomictic Boechera accessions (3 technical replicates per accession) was completed. Using two different forward PCR primers which spanned the apomixis-specific polymorphism which was identified from the gene sequences, it was possible to measure transcript abundance for both the sexual and apomictic alleles separately.

cDNA was prepared using RevertAid H Minus reverse transcriptase.

For the real-time PCR reactions the SYBR® Green PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.) was used. QRT-PCR amplifications were carried out in a 7900HT Fast RT-PCR System machine (Applied Biosystems) with the following temperature profile for SYBRgreen assays: initial denaturation at 90° C. for 10 min, followed by 40 cycles of 95° C. for 15 sec. and 60° C. for 1 min. For checking amplicon quality, a melting curve gradient was obtained from the product at the end of the amplification. The Ct, defined as the PCR cycle at which a statistically significant increase of reporter fluorescence is first detected, was used as a measure for the starting copy numbers of the target gene. The mean expression level and standard deviation for each set of three technical replicates for each cDNA was calculated. Relative quantitation and normalization of the amplified targets were performed by the comparative ΔΔCt method using a calibrator sample in reference to the expression levels of the house-keeping gene UBQ10.

The results are conclusive: the apomictic allele is exclusively expressed in the microdissected ovules of all apomictic accessions, while the sexual allele is never expressed in any, which means sexual or apomictic, ovule. Both alleles are expressed in other tissues, namely somatic tissue. Hence, it appears very reasonable to assume that the sexual allele is inactive/silenced during normal sexual ovule development, while the expression of the apomictic allele is correlated with apomeiotic ovule development.

EXAMPLE 3 Construction of Transformation Vectors and Transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana with Apomixis-inducing Gene Plant Transformation

Transformations of Arabidopsis thaliana (sex) (hybrids F1) and Boechera (sex) with the gene of the present invention are able to show a change of their reproductive mode into apomictic seed production. For this, the complete genomic allele (including complete promoter) has been cloned in pNOS-ABM.

In addition, different constructs are used to characterize the role of the present regulatory elements, in particular the promoter of the present invention, in its expression. For this, both apo and sex promoters have been exactly connected to the ATG in front of gus in pGUS-ABM.

Complete BAC-4 is as well used for transformations. 

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A method for inducing apomixis in a plant, wherein a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant is induced to be expressed in the ovule of said plant and wherein said nucleotide sequence comprises a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from a group consisting of: xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the polynucleotide is selected from a group consisting of: xa1) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 26, 31, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof xb1) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc1) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa1) or xb1), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 22. The method of claim 20, wherein the polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of: xa2) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22, 23, 27, 28, 32, 33 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb2) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 4, 5, 6 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc2) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa2) or xb2), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 23. An isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, which comprises a polynucleotide able to act as a regulatory element and selected from a group consisting of: a3) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 55 to 62 or 65 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and b3) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a3), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 24. An isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, which comprises a polynucleotide coding for a protein with exonuclease activity, the polynucleotide selected from a group consisting of: xa4) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 26, 31, 36, 39, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb4) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc4) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 98% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa4) or xb4), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 25. An isolated nucleic acid molecule for use in inducing apomixis in a plant, which comprises a polynucleotide coding for a protein with exonuclease activity, the polynucleotide selected from the group consisting of: xa5) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 47, 49, 50, 52, 53 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb5) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc5) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 90% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa5) or xb5), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 26. A method for the production of an apomictic plant, wherein a plant cell is transformed with a nucleic acid molecule capable of inducing the expression of a nucleotide sequence encoding a protein capable of inducing apomixis in a plant and regenerating the transformed plant cell into a transformed plant that contains the transformed nucleic acid molecule so as to induce apomixis in the plant, wherein the nucleotide sequence encoding the protein capable of inducing apomixis in the plant is a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of: xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof.
 27. The method for the production of an apomictic plant by transforming according to claim 26, wherein the plant cell is transformed with a first isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of: xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof, or with a second isolated nucleic acid molecule selected from a group consisting of: a3) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEZ ID No. 55 to 62 or 65 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and b3 a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a3), or a fully complementary strand thereof; or with a vector containing the second isolated nucleic acid molecule and the transformed plant cell is regenerated into a transformed plant that contains the at least one nucleic acid sequence so as to induce apomixis in the plant.
 28. A method for isolating an apomixis inducing nucleic acid molecule from a plant, wherein a first isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide, which codes for a protein with exonuclease activity, which polynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of: xa) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 22 to 54 or a fully complementary strand thereof; xb) a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide with the amino acid sequence defined in any one of SEQ ID No. 1 to 21 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and xc) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in xa) or xb), or a fully complementary strand thereof, or a second isolated nucleic acid molecule selected from a group consisting of: a3) the polynucleotide defined in any one of SEZ ID No. 55 to 62 or 65 or a fully complementary strand thereof; and b3) a polynucleotide variant having a degree of sequence identity of more than 70% to the nucleic acid sequence defined in a3), or a fully complementary strand thereof; or a vector including the second isolated nucleic acid molecule is used to screen and isolate nucleic acid sequences derived from the plant. 